Gilda stands at the back of the Chicago speakeasy she loves and frequents, listening to the sweet and sultry voice of Lydia Redmond floating from the stage. She passes by the club owner Benny Green on the way out, who invites her to his party.

Walking home, Gilda thinks back to her childhood, eighty years ago, on a Mississippi plantation. She was given the gift of blood by Bird, who helped her escape and taught her to drink blood without killing mortals. She'd travelled on her own many years since but was starting to feel loneliness wear on her.

Gilda suddenly sees two white men running toward her. They grab her and attempt to assault her, but she evades them easily and knocks one of them out. Angrily remembering the past, when the slave master attempted to rape her, she fogs the man's mind and drinks his blood, imprinting in him the desire to do better by women. Then she leaves.

At Benny's party, Lydia leads Gilda into a private room. She asks what her mystery is all about, and Gilda strains not to tell her the truth. The two women are inches from an embrace when they hear gunshots. Gilda orders Lydia to stay and runs into the fray, where Morris the bartender kneels with his hand pressing a wound on Benny's chest. Gilda orders him to evacuate the others and sits thinking of the family Benny has created, wanting to give him the saving gift of her blood but knowing she shouldn't do it without his permission. Lydia comes behind her and says, "I know you can save him." Without understanding how Lydia knew, Gilda seals Benny's wound and pours her own blood into his mouth. She sees into his mind, sees his love for Lydia is sisterly and his love for Morris romantic. Lydia and Morris gather around Gilda and Benny, whose eyes flutter open.